In an extensive environmental study, field samples, including soil, water, rice, vegetable, fish, human hair and urine, were collected at an abandoned tungsten mine in Shantou City, southern China. Results showed that arsenic (As) concentration in agricultural soils ranged from 3.5 to 935 mg kg−1 with the mean value of 129 mg kg−1. In addition, As concentration reached up to 325 μg L−1 in the groundwater, and the maximum As concentration in local food were 1.09, 2.38 and 0.60 mg kg−1 for brown rice, vegetable and fish samples, respectively, suggesting the local water resource and food have been severely contaminated with As. Health impact monitoring data revealed that As concentrations in hair and urine samples were up to 2.92 mg kg−1 and 164 μg L−1, respectively, indicating a potential health risk among the local residents. Effective measurements should be implemented to protect the local community from the As contamination in the environment. It is the first report on arsenic contamination and potential health risk implications at abandoned Lianhuashan tungsten mine.

Environmental pollution by mercury (Hg) is a considerable environmental problem world-wide. Due to the occurrence of Hg volatilization from their soils, floodplains can function as an important source of volatile Hg. Soil temperature and soil water content related to flood dynamics are considered as important factors affecting seasonal dynamics of total gaseous mercury (TGM) fluxes. We quantified seasonal variations of TGM fluxes and conducted a laboratory microcosm experiment to assess the effect of temperature and moisture on TGM fluxes in heavily polluted floodplain soils. Observed TGM emissions ranged from 10 to 850 ng m−2 h−1 and extremely exceeded the emissions of non-polluted sites. TGM emissions increased exponentially with raised air and soil temperatures in both field (R2: 0.49–0.70) and laboratory (R2: 0.99) experiments. Wet soil material showed higher TGM fluxes, whereas the role of soil water content was affected by sampling time during the microcosm experiments. Warmer environmental conditions result in higher Hg volatilization rates from floodplain soils.

Animal wastes from intensive pig farming as fertilizers may expose crops to antimicrobials. Zea mays cultivations were carried out on a virgin field, subjected to dressing with pig slurries contaminated at 15 mg L−1 of Oxy- and 5 mg L−1 of Chlor-tetracycline, and at 8 mg L−1 of Oxy and 3 mg L−1 of Chlor, respectively. Pot cultivation was performed outdoor (Oxy in the range 62.5–1000 ng g−1 dry soil) and plants harvested after 45 days. Tetracyclines analyses on soils and on field plants (roots, stalks, and leaves) did not determine the appreciable presence of tetracyclines. Residues were found in the 45-day pot corn only, in the range of 1–50 ng g−1 for Oxy in roots, accounting for a 5% carry-over rate, on average. Although no detectable residues in plants from on land cultivations, both experimental batches showed the same biphasic growth form corresponding to a dose/response hormetic curve. Oxytetracycline in soils elicits a hormetic response in Zea mays plants.

Numerous experiments have demonstrated reductions in the yields of cereal crops due to tropospheric O3, with losses of up to 25%. However, the only British econometric study on O3 impacts on winter wheat yields, found that a 10% increase in AOT40 would decrease yields by only 0.23%. An attempt is made here to reconcile these observations by developing AOT40 maps for Great Britain and matching levels with a large number of standardised trial plot wheat yields from many sites over a 13-year period. Panel estimates (repeated measures on the same plots with time) show a 0.54% decrease in yields and it is hypothesised that plant breeders may have inadvertently selected for O3 tolerance in wheat. Some support for this is provided by fumigations of cultivars of differing introduction dates. A case is made for the use of econometric as well as experimental studies in prediction of air pollution induced crop loss.

The metabolite 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) is a frequent groundwater pollutant produced during degradation of the herbicide 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (dichlobenile). Spatial variability of BAM mineralisation is uncharacterized in surface soil, however, and factors controlling the heterogeneity remain unknown. We addressed these issues by sample-to-sample comparisons of BAM mineralisation rates and a range of soil characteristics at spatial scales ranging from meters to centimetres. For mineralisation assays nano-molar concentrations of labelled BAM were added to determine mineralisation rates under realistic conditions. We found a significant variability of BAM mineralisation which increased with decreasing spatial scale. BAM mineralisation rates were correlated to the density of BAM-degrading bacteria but not to water content, TOC, NH4+, NO3−, or pH. The genus Aminobacter, which contains the only BAM degraders known, was detected in MPN samples of BAM degraders by a specific PCR assay targeting the 16S rRNA gene, confirming a role of Aminobacter in BAM mineralisation. Density of degrader bacteria is the main factor in BAM mineralisation when considering realistic low concentrations in soil.

Tropospheric ozone causes severe oxidative stress in plants. To investigate the transcriptional responsiveness of adult trees to ozone, fully-expanded sun and shade leaves of mature beech trees were harvested at four time points over the entire vegetation period in 2005 and 2006. Microarray analyses were conducted on leaves from trees grown in the field under ambient and twice-ambient ozone concentrations at Kranzberger Forst (Bavaria). Beech trees changed their transcript levels in response to ozone. In the years 2005 and 2006 different transcription patterns were observed; this may have been a result of different weather conditions and ozone uptake. Furthermore, we obtained differences in mRNA expression patterns between shade and sun leaves. In the ozone-treated sun leaves of 2005, slightly up- and down-regulated transcript levels were detected, particularly in the spring and autumn, whereas shade leaves clearly exhibited reduced mRNA levels, particularly at the end of the vegetation period. In 2006, this pattern could not be confirmed, and in the autumn, four other transcripts were slightly up-regulated in ozone-treated shade leaves. In addition, two other transcripts were found to be influenced in sun leaves in the spring/summer. While we detected changes in the levels of only a few transcripts, the observed effects were not identical in both years. In conclusion, elevated ozone exhibited very small influence on the transcription levels of genes of mature beech trees. At the transcriptional level, leaves of mature beech trees barely react to double ambient ozone concentrations; differences are detected primarily between sun/shade leaves and between different growing seasons.

The gene expression of environmental organisms is useful as a biomarker of environmental pollution. One of its advantages is high sensitivity. We identified the cDNA of a novel cadmium-responsive gene in the soil collembolan Folsomia candida. The deduced protein, designated “metallothionein-like motif containing protein” (MTC), was cysteine-rich and contained a metallothionein-like motif with similarity to metallothionein, but had a much longer sequence than metallothionein and contained repeated sequences of amino acids. Expression of MTC mRNA was sensitively induced by cadmium exposure at 0.3 mg/kg of dry food, a concentration at which toxic effects are not observed, but expression was not affected by γ-ray exposure (an inducer of oxidative stress). These findings suggest that MTC is involved in cadmium-binding processes rather than in oxidative-stress responses. In conclusion, we suggest that gene expression of MTC may be a candidate biomarker for detecting low levels of cadmium contamination in soil.

Current regulatory environmental exposure assessments for decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5), used in a range of personal care products, are based on a number of erroneous assumptions. Using an estimated D5 flux to waste water of 11.6 mg cap−1 d−1, a 95.2% removal rate in Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) and a dilution factor of 10 results in modelled surface water concentrations that are up to an order of magnitude higher than concentrations observed downstream of STPs in two UK rivers. A GIS-based water quality model (LF2000-WQX) was used to predict concentrations of D5 in two UK rivers. Assuming the STP removal rate is reasonable, a waste water flux of 2.4 mg cap−1 d−1 is needed in order to obtain a reasonable match between predicted and observed in-river concentrations. This flux is consistent with measured effluent concentrations. The results highlight major uncertainties in estimating chemical emission rates for volatile chemicals used in personal care products and suggest that measured concentrations in waste water are needed to refine exposure assessments. Surface water modelling of decamethylcyclopentasiloxane.

Increases in reactive nitrogen deposition are a growing concern in the U.S. Rocky Mountain west. The Rocky Mountain Airborne Nitrogen and Sulfur (RoMANS) study was designed to improve understanding of the species and pathways that contribute to nitrogen deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). During two 5-week field campaigns in spring and summer of 2006, the largest contributor to reactive nitrogen deposition in RMNP was found to be wet deposition of ammonium (34% spring and summer), followed by wet deposition of nitrate (24% spring, 28% summer). The third and fourth most important reactive nitrogen deposition pathways were found to be wet deposition of organic nitrogen (17%, 12%) and dry deposition of ammonia (14%, 16%), neither of which is routinely measured by air quality/deposition networks operating in the region. Total reactive nitrogen deposition during the spring campaign was determined to be 0.45 kg ha−1 and more than doubled to 0.95 kg ha−1 during the summer campaign. The reactive nitrogen deposition budget for Rocky Mountain National Park.

The increasing release of chiral chemicals into the environment dictates attention to a better understanding of enantioselectivity in their human and ecotoxicological effects. Although enantioselectivity has been considered in many recent studies, there is little effort for discerning the connection between different processes, and as such, our current knowledge about chiral contaminants is rather scattered and incoherent. In this study, we simultaneously evaluated enantioselectivity of two chiral pesticides, lambda-cyhalothrin (LCT) and (Z)-cis-bifenthrin (cis-BF), in immunotoxicity to macrophage cells (RAW264.7), and endocrine disruption activity in human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7. Analysis of cell proliferation, cell viability, apoptosis, and receptor gene expression showed significant differences between the enantiomers of LCT or cis-BF in estrogenic potential and immunocytotoxicity. The selectivity in these effects consistently followed the same direction, with (−)-LCT or 1S-cis-BF displaying a greater activity than its counterpart. The consistency was attributed to interplaying mechanisms in the closely interacting immune and endocrine systems. The underlying interplays suggest that other chiral xenobiotics may also show a directional enantioselectivity in immunotoxicity and endocrine toxicity. Given that many biological processes are inter-related, enantioselectivity may follow specific patterns that can be revealed via integrative assessments as demonstrated in this study.